Tag Archives: Belfast

If you’re based in Northern Ireland, there are just a few more days left in which to book your place for the Fertility Information Day to be held in Belfast on Saturday 3 October.

The day is open to everyone and is being held in The Long Gallery at the Parliament Buildings in Stormont in Belfast. It is organised by Infertility Network UK. It all kicks off at 9 am and runs right through to 3.30 pm, with talks on a variety of topics including NHS treatment and funding, nutrition, counselling, fertility investigations, treating endometriosis, embryology & recruiting an egg donor. The cost is £10 for individuals, and £20 for any professionals working in the field who wish to attend.

Tickets are available until the end of September, and you can find out how to book your tickets here

Another event for you if you’re based in Northern Ireland – on Saturday October 3 there’s a fertility information day in Belfast organised by Infertility Network UK. It will cover a huge range of fertility-related topics including NHS treatment and funding, counselling, fertility investigations, treating endometriosis, embryology, nutrition and recruiting an egg donor.

The day will be held at the Long Gallery at the Parliament Buildings at Stormont, and it will run from 9 am to 3.30pm. The cost is £10.00, but if you book before 28 August, you can get an earlybird booking for just £5.00. For professionals the cost is £20.00, with an early booking fee of £10.00 before 28th August.

If you’re based in Northern Ireland, you may be interested in a one-day conference on donor treatment to be held in Belfast on 19 September at the Malone Lodge Hotel.

The conference is organised by Northern Ireland Fertility Counselling Service and it will be of interest to anyone considering donor treatment or those who are parents after donor treatment as well as anyone working in the field. A range of leading experts are speaking including Dr Marilyn Crawshaw from York University, Dr Petra Nordqvist from Manchester University, Rosetta Wotton from the HFEA, Jane Ellis who is a trainer with the Donor Conception Network and the mother of donor-conceived adults, Danny Ruddock, another Donor Conception Network trainer and father of donor-conceived children and Kate Litwinczuk who is a Donor Conception Network member and was herself donor-conceived.

It promises to be a very interesting day – and you can find out more here

Being told that doctors can’t find a reason why you can’t get pregnant can be hugely frustrating – and often means that people end up blaming themselves, making endless lifestyle changes or paying for lots of complementary treatments in an attempt to improve their fertility.

Now, researchers from Belfast claim that they’ve discovered a cause for many fertility problems which have been classified as “unexplained”. In a study of more than 200 couples, they discovered that there was high sperm DNA damage in 80% of the couples who’d been told their infertility was unexplained. The research – which has been published in Reproductive Biomedicine Online – also revealed that the chances of getting pregnant after IVF is linked to the amount of DNA damage in each sperm. Some DNA damage is normal and is found even in perfectly fertile men, but when levels are high this can reduce the chances of having a baby even with fertility treatment.

You can read more about the research here. If this is indeed the case, it could herald a huge change in the diagnosis and treatment of many couples with fertility problems.

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Fertility Matters is written by Kate Brian who has been through fertility problems, tests and IVF treatment herself. The website gives reliable information, advice and support to anyone who is having difficulties getting pregnant. Read more